The Ministry of Interior, in coordination with its foreign affairs counterpart, is looking into the possibility of hiring domestic workers from countries other than those currently sending these workers to Kuwait, reports Al-Anba daily quoting high ranking officials from the General Department for Residency Affairs.

The officials explained that the objective of the move is to overcome pressure exerted by some countries and embassies in terms of salaries for domestic workers.

They said the announcement of the new countries will be done as part of the ongoing study on the issue, including a proposal to extend the probation period from 100 days to a year.

They added the study is set to cancel the category ‘rejected domestic workers’, whereas a shelter will be established for domestic workers under the supervision of Ministry of Interior and not the domestic workers bureaus; hence, these bureaus will not be allowed to re-employ the rejected workers under another sponsor. In another development, the officials said about 90 percent of those who failed to update their passport information in the concerned authority - around 113,000 people - paid fines totaling KD 5.5 million